collective behavior

A fossil of a school of fish from the Eocene appears to represent coordinated collective movement.

Small research groups tend to beat large collaborations when it comes to producing innovative projects and breakthrough discoveries.

A marine flatworm swarms in a circular fashion off the coast of Guernsey.

Transport of food sways between two modes.

Social insects kill infected individuals for the benefit of the colony—and now a study has shown how they know who’s sick.

What can social networks among hunter-gatherers in Tanzania teach us about how cooperation evolved in human populations?

Individual cockroaches can be shy or bold, but they alter their behavior to fit in with a group, a study shows.

New software that can trace the individual paths of every animal in a massive swarm could help biologists unravel the secrets of collective behavior.

A swarm of more than 1,000 small, puck-shaped robots can assemble into diverse patterns.

Animal robots have become a unique tool for studying the behavior of their flesh-and-blood counterparts.

A vacation from your lab doesn’t have to mean a break from fascinating developments on the life science front.

Molecules, cells, or vertebrates—when individuals move and act as a single unit, surprisingly complex behaviors arise that hint at the origins of multicellularity.

Flocks of birds and schools of fish become more than the sum of their parts thanks to complex interactive behaviors.